Along Route 74 -- The highway offers quite a lot for N.C. travelers

Published: Friday, January 3, 2014 at 03:52 PM.

For this edition of ‘Along Route 74,’ we’re sticking pretty close to the source.

That is, U.S. Highway 74 itself.

It wasn’t until a recent conversation that I began thinking how much I’ve traversed this state on 74. That road seems to offer a little bit of everything.

Not only does it provide the main east-west thoroughfare through Cleveland County, but when I lived in Monroe (UnionCounty), that was also the case there. On that side of Charlotte, all the way to the coast its known as the ‘Andrew Jackson Highway.’

Consider the variety: There’s the winding switch backs west of Lake Lure and Bat Cave up into the mountains on the old ‘Business 74.’

Once, when I went sort of brain dead and drove back that way from a game at A.C. Reynolds, I was about at the very top when I met a big truck going the other way that about forced me off the cliff late a night. I was really wide awake the rest of the way back to Shelby afterwards.

There’s those interstate-like sections of it around Rockingham, and from Laurinburg on to Whiteville that I frequent in the summer on my ways too and from the beach. The same goes for the portion west of Forest City that takes you all the way to Interstate 26.

For this edition of ‘Along Route 74,’ we’re sticking pretty close to the source.

That is, U.S. Highway 74 itself.

It wasn’t until a recent conversation that I began thinking how much I’ve traversed this state on 74. That road seems to offer a little bit of everything.

Not only does it provide the main east-west thoroughfare through Cleveland County, but when I lived in Monroe (UnionCounty), that was also the case there. On that side of Charlotte, all the way to the coast its known as the ‘Andrew Jackson Highway.’

Consider the variety: There’s the winding switch backs west of Lake Lure and Bat Cave up into the mountains on the old ‘Business 74.’

Once, when I went sort of brain dead and drove back that way from a game at A.C. Reynolds, I was about at the very top when I met a big truck going the other way that about forced me off the cliff late a night. I was really wide awake the rest of the way back to Shelby afterwards.

There’s those interstate-like sections of it around Rockingham, and from Laurinburg on to Whiteville that I frequent in the summer on my ways too and from the beach. The same goes for the portion west of Forest City that takes you all the way to Interstate 26.

Several times taking the bridge across the Cape Fear River at Wilmington, there’s the realization you’re just about at your destination that makes it special. That doesn’t even take into account the panoramic view of the town and U.S. North Carolina.

There’s plenty of neat places along the way to eat. Some of my favorites (outside Cleveland County), include Scott’s in Forest City, Scoggin’s just west of Rutherfordton on the old business 74, and Smithfield-Selma BBQ at Laurinburg, to name a few.

A few landmarks that stand out here and there. There’s the first glimpse of LakeLure you get through the trees as you begin to descend down to the town on the old highway. To the south from there on the newer version, there’s seeing the Cleghorn Plantation course golf in the valley to your right heading west.

Heading east, there’s the peach stand that’s been there forever on the left just before you get to the four-lane 74 bridge over the Pee Dee River east of Rockingham. Then there’s those little ‘blink’ towns like Peachland, Polkton, Laurel Hill and others where, if you’re not paying attention, you’ll be through and by before you notice.

Everytime I go for a long distance on that highway, I notice or re-discover something I’d forgotten about. Often its just the fact of how much this state offers – natural features like hills, rivers, farmland, and lakes, plus the human element – businesses, towns, historical markers, etc.

When I hear John Denver’s ‘Take Me Home Country Road,’ a lot of the time that brings Highway 74 to mind. And that’s not so bad.